Umberto Boccioni, Dynamism of a Soccer Player,  1913

Planes, trains, and automobiles. These, and any other moving machines, became the general themes of the Futurist movement. Dynamism of a Soccer Player by Umberto Boccioni is the ultimate collaboration between man and machine.

The brilliant colors and blurred movement of Dynamism clearly mirror the Futurist fascination with the movement of mechanisms and technology. Making something not traditionally beautiful into art was right up their alley. This barely recognizable "soccer player" looks like any tussle between team rivals, but the work captures every movement of the athlete in action. An arm, possibly a leg, thrown about creates the constant shift of the player, similar to that of any mechanism.

The controlled chaos of the game morphs into that of a well-oiled machine. The fast paced drive within the painting conveys the Futurists' interest of the fast-paced advancement of technology. Old and slow was obsolete. New and fast took over.